On an early morning in June 2023, a tanker truck transporting thousands of gallons of gasoline crashed on an exit ramp underneath I-95 in Philadelphia. The truck burst into flames, killing the driver, causing an overpass to collapse and shutting down a vital commercial and commuter corridor traveled by about 160,000 vehicles every day. Experts predicted it would take months to rebuild.
At that point, Josh Shapiro had been Pennsylvania’s governor for five months. This was the kind of disaster that, if handled well, could earn a state-level politician considerable acclaim, or, if handled poorly, could doom their career. And Shapiro seemed to know it. He quickly signed a disaster declaration to secure federal funds. Then he and a crew of emergency management and construction specialists concocted a creative temporary fix for the highway, involving recycled glass and a jet-engine-powered dryer normally used on NASCAR tracks. They even livestreamed the repairs. To everyone’s surprise, the roadway reopened in 12 days.
Shapiro held a triumphant press conference to mark the accomplishment. Mascots from the city’s major sports teams were in attendance. For the event, the governor swapped his customary suit and tie for a bomber-style jacket over a white Oxford shirt. Standing behind a platform branded with the words “Rebuilding I-95” and flanked by a coterie of labor leaders and elected officials, Shapiro pressed and held his lips together for a moment before debuting what would become a mantra for his tenure as governor: The reconstruction of the highway, he said, was proof that “we can get shit done.”